6 workplace challenges for Black and Latina moms

6 workplace challenges faced by moms of color

March 23, 2022 5:30 AM

The pandemic pushed 2.1 million women out of the workforce, as lay-offs, inaccessibility to child care and the overall strain placed on working moms caused a mass exodus — and Black and Latinx moms experienced the brunt of it.

According to a study by Werklabs, the research division of the digital career community The Mom Project, 41% of that 2.1 million were Black and Latinx mothers. To understand what challenges moms of color face in their personal and professional lives, The Mom Project’s free upskilling program RISE, alongside Werklabs, surveyed 520 program participants, with 90% being female and 70% being people of color. The results revealed a list of “pain points,” or problems that participants struggle to resolve.

“A lot of women of color faced layoffs or were forced to choose between earning an income and taking care of their family,” says Chandra Sanders, the director of RISE. “Their previous roles didn’t allow for the time and resources to do both, so they had to sacrifice their income or their families.”

Among the top challenges were the ability to work flexible jobs and the inaccessibility of child care. As employers grapple with finding ways to bring women back into the workforce, RISE highlighted these six pain points employers must address if they want to attract and retain their top talent.

Flexibility

Flexibility topped the list, with 94% of participants naming it as a major pain point. Sanders notes that many women of color are incredibly underrepresented in the tech industry, where remote and flexible roles are more common. But an employer doesn’t have to be a tech giant to be considerate of parents’ time and responsibilities.

“One woman we worked with at RISE had a government job, which was forcing her to return to the workplace,” says Sanders. “We provided her with what she needed to get a new job, and now she is making 35% more and works 100% remotely so she can take care of her family.”

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According to a survey by Microsoft, approximately 50% of companies want their workers back in the office full-time in the next year, meaning many workers may lose flexibility offered by hybrid and remote work. As for working moms, they will be forced to either leave their employer or family behind if companies deprioritize flexibility, explains Sanders.

Finances

Over 70% of RISE participants consider finances to be a hurdle to their success. This isn’t surprising since Black and Latina women still make as little as 65 cents to a man’s dollar, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This data point is even more troubling when one considers the fact that nearly four million family households depend on a Black woman’s salary, as noted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

“If we are not earning an income high enough to take care of our families, we will suffer,” says Sanders. “That’s why RISE exists. These women need to have the ability to elevate their careers and incomes, so they can elevate their kids and generations to come.”

Child care

According to RISE, 54% of participants found child care to be a pain point, as a lack of flexibility and finances make child care increasingly inaccessible. Sanders points out that with COVID variants continuing to threaten a return-to-normal, schools and daycares are not always guaranteed to be open or safe. Not to mention, the cost of child care increased by 41% in the last year for center-based care, with U.S. parents needing to now spend over $14,000 per year, according to a report by LendingTree.

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“If you have been out of the workforce for a while, you probably can’t afford child care, especially now that costs have risen so dramatically,” says Sanders. “It’s a never-ending cycle of poverty — you can’t afford child care because you can’t work and you can’t work because you can’t afford child care.”

Career navigation

Career navigation ranked only slightly above child care, with 56% of participants naming it a pain point. With a systematic lack of connections and mentors, women of color may not even know what opportunities are out there, explains Sanders.

“Most women of color don’t have a network or a mentor who knows who they are, appreciates them and will open doors for them,” she says. “RISE provides mentors from companies like Apple, Google or NASDAQ, so they can have the experience and exposure they wouldn’t get otherwise.”

While RISE wants to make career navigation easier for their moms of color, it can be difficult to find the bandwidth to job hunt while keeping up with various professional and familial commitments. According to a study by the magazine Working Mother, working moms clock nearly 100 hours of labor a week. So whether it’s paid or not, there’s no escaping work.

Wellness

Sixty-four percent of RISE participants consider wellness a major stressor, with access to mental healthcare proving especially difficult. Yet this care is necessary for many women of color, as they struggle with an endless workload, alongside racism and daily microaggressions, explains Sanders.

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“Women of color are always expected to be resilient, take care of everyone and keep going no matter what, because that's what we've always done since the beginning of time,” she says. “The pandemic has placed so much more of life’s burden on us, and we need help. But if we don’t have the privilege of wellness benefits at work, what are we supposed to do?”

While women experience depression at twice the rate of men, Black women are only half as likely as white women to seek care, as cited by the Psychiatric Times. Unfortunately, cost and access often stand in the way — according to the American Psychiatric Association, Black providers represent only about 2% of practicing psychiatrists and 4% of psychologists, making it exceedingly hard for Black women to see a mental healthcare provider who can relate to their struggle first-hand.

“We want to reach out to someone who understands our needs,” says Sanders. “We want someone to actually care, but we are not always in the position to get that help.”

Reaching out

According to RISE, 60% of participants named this as an issue, though finding connection is often under-considered as a barrier to success, Sanders says.

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“We have to be comfortable asking for help, but to have that freedom, we need a community we can trust,” says Sanders. “Otherwise, if you're reaching out to someone and they just put you on the back burner, you will feel worse and never reach out again.”

Sanders hopes RISE can offer its participants a strong community, but beyond the program, bosses and managers will have to make an effort to be empathetic toward every worker.

“There is no longer a separation between work and being human,” says Sanders. “We need leaders who listen, understand and support us so that we can grow — having a space where we can be heard makes all the difference.”